Mindful Movement in July
For the last few months, we've introduced fun Mindfulness activities for our teams to enjoy, and although we've been doing month-long Mindfulness challenges every October, we're now launching our first-ever Mindfulness challenge in July - one that combines body and mind. Although we tend to associate Mindfulness with mental health and well-being, our physical health is also affected, and so this month we're focusing on uniting our physical and mental selves through the practice of mindful movement. As an alternative to meditation, mindful stretching can be a powerful means of stress-release and relaxation that takes only a few minutes a day.
What is Mindful Stretching?
Mindful stretching is putting our attention and focus on noticing and feeling what our bodies do while engaging in movement. It's a mental focus and practice of being aware of our entire body to help ground ourselves and release physical tension, and by focusing on our breathing and the feeling that each stretch gives us, we can relax our minds as well as our bodies.
Video Breaks & Yoga in the Garden
To encourage our team members to engage in mindful stretching, we've created videos to guide stretching breaks - with a different theme each week. The challenge is for every team member to break away from their tasks and together, follow the guided stretching session while focusing on the sensation of each movement. To accompany our mindful stretching sessions, we're also offering our head office team members yoga in the garden once a week. Led by a professional instructor, those who want to take their mindful movements to the next level can learn new techniques and breathing exercises under the sun. And team members who participate in any of the activities each week are eligible for prizes!
Mindfulness continues to be an extremely important practice at Ardene, and in fact we recently appointed our first-ever Chief Mindfulness Officer to reflect our ongoing commitment. We're so happy to continue offering our monthly Mindfulness practices at both head office and in stores, and judging by the level of engagement and enthusiasm, our team members seem to be too! Taking moments each day to slow down, focus and recenter are critical to our well-being, and we're excited by everyone's participation in this month's challenge.